Chapter 6: The Man Walking Toward My Death
The screen showed my face.
But it wasn’t me.
I was standing inside Room 214.
Watching.
Breathing.
Alive.
Yet on the security monitor, another version of myself was walking through the hallway.
A version that shouldn’t exist.
A version covered in blood.
The timestamp kept blinking.
4:00 A.M. TOMORROW
Nobody spoke.
Nobody could.
The image felt like a warning from the future.
Or a memory that hadn’t happened yet.
Mark slowly stepped closer to the monitor.
“That’s impossible.”
No one answered.
He looked at me.
Then back at the screen.
“Tell me that isn’t you.”
I wanted to.
I wanted to laugh.
I wanted to say it was some kind of camera error.
A glitch.
A trick.
Anything.
But the face on the screen was mine.
Same eyes.
Same scar above my eyebrow.
Same small mark on my chin.
Even the way he walked…
It was exactly like me.
Except his expression.
I had never looked that empty before.
Thomas Reed stared at the monitor.
His face became filled with sadness.
“It’s starting.”
Daniel immediately turned toward him.
“What do you mean?”
Thomas didn’t answer.
Daniel grabbed his arm.
“What do you mean, Thomas?”
The old man looked at him.
“The cycle.”
The word echoed.
“What cycle?”
Thomas looked at me.
“The one your daughter tried to stop.”
A cold wave moved through my body.
“Elizabeth?”
Thomas nodded.
“She discovered the truth.”
“Which is?”
Thomas looked toward the security footage.
“That returning from death was never the goal.”
The screen flickered.
The figure in the hallway moved closer.
“One person returning was an accident.”
Another step.
“The scientists wanted something else.”
The figure stopped.
Right outside Room 214.
Everyone stared.
“What?”
Thomas whispered:
“They wanted to create a replacement.”
The door handle moved.
Slowly.
Everyone stepped back.
I couldn’t move.
Because I knew who was outside.
Me.
A future version of me.
A version that was supposed to die.
The handle stopped.
Then a voice came through the door.
My voice.
“Don’t let him open it.”
Everyone froze.
Mark looked at me.
Then the door.
The voice continued.
“He doesn’t know the truth.”
My heart pounded.
“Who?”
Silence.
Then:
“Thomas.”
Everyone turned toward the old man.
Thomas’s expression changed.
For the first time…
He looked afraid.
The door suddenly slammed open.
But nobody was there.
Only the hallway.
Empty.
The CCTV screen went black.
The power returned seconds later.
Mark immediately checked the cameras.
“The footage is gone.”
“What?”
“The future recording.”
He typed quickly.
“Deleted.”
Daniel stared.
“No.”
“What?”
Daniel looked at Thomas.
“She deleted it.”
I looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
Thomas did.
“Elizabeth.”
The name made everyone silent.
“But Elizabeth is alive?”
Thomas looked at me.
“That depends on what you mean by alive.”
I felt anger rising.
“I’m tired of these answers.”
I stepped toward him.
“Everyone keeps saying things I don’t understand.”
I pointed at Thomas.
“You’re dead but standing here.”
I pointed at Daniel.
“You knew me before I knew myself.”
I pointed at the hallway.
“And now I’m watching myself walk toward a death that hasn’t happened.”
My voice cracked.
“Someone tell me the truth.”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Thomas sat down.
Like he knew there was no escaping anymore.
“Twenty years ago, you were brought here.”
I listened.
“You were eight years old.”
A strange memory flashed.
A hospital bed.
A stuffed animal.
A girl’s voice.
“Don’t be scared.”
Elizabeth.
Thomas continued.
“You had a condition doctors couldn’t treat.”
“What condition?”
Daniel answered quietly.
“You were dying.”
The room went silent.
“You had less than a week to live.”
I stared at him.
“So you experimented on me?”
Daniel looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than a lie.
“Why?”
“Because we had already failed with Elizabeth.”
Thomas looked down.
“They wanted another attempt.”
“Who?”
Thomas whispered:
“The people who funded Project 214.”
Mark frowned.
“The hospital board?”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Then who?”
Thomas looked toward the ceiling.
“The people who owned the hospital.”
Nobody spoke.
“The hospital was just the laboratory.”
A chill ran through me.
“So what happened?”
Thomas looked at me.
“The procedure worked.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“You came back.”
My breathing slowed.
“But you weren’t supposed to remember.”
“Why?”
Thomas answered:
“Because memories create connections.”
I frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“When a person returns, they bring pieces of the past with them.”
He looked at me.
“Memories. Emotions. Attachments.”
A pause.
“But sometimes they bring something else.”
“What?”
Thomas whispered:
“Another consciousness.”
The room became freezing cold.
“You mean…”
Thomas nodded.
“The procedure did not bring one person back.”
I felt sick.
“It brought two.”
Daniel looked at me.
“That is why they erased your memory.”
My hands trembled.
“Who was the other one?”
Nobody answered.
Then the computer suddenly turned on.
A new file appeared.
No one touched it.
The title:
SUBJECT 002
Mark opened it.
A video started playing.
The recording showed a young boy lying on the hospital bed.
Me.
Eight years old.
Doctors surrounded me.
A woman’s voice spoke.
“Begin extraction.”
A doctor replied:
“The consciousness separation is unstable.”
The woman answered:
“Then stabilize it.”
The camera moved.
A child was standing behind the glass window.
Watching.
A little girl.
Elizabeth.
The younger version of me opened his eyes.
The doctor shouted:
“He’s awake!”
Then my younger voice whispered:
“Who is standing next to me?”
Everyone in the video froze.
The doctor looked around.
“There is nobody there.”
My younger self pointed.
“There.”
The camera turned.
Empty room.
But the monitor beside the bed started showing another heartbeat.
A second heartbeat.
The doctor whispered:
“The second subject has appeared.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then the file automatically opened another document.
A medical report.
The title:
SUBJECT 002: UNKNOWN ENTITY
Status:
ACTIVE
Location:
INSIDE ORIGINAL HOST
My blood turned cold.
Original host.
Me.
Then a final sentence appeared.
Created:
Tomorrow, 4:00 A.M.
I stared.
“Why tomorrow?”
Thomas looked at me.
Because he already knew the answer.
“Because that is when the separation happens.”
Daniel looked horrified.
“No.”
Thomas nodded.
“The process will finish.”
Mark asked:
“What happens then?”
Thomas looked at me.
And whispered:
“The person who is truly you survives.”
A pause.
“The other one dies.”
The lights suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed Room 214.
Then I heard breathing.
Not mine.
Not Thomas’s.
Someone was standing directly behind me.
A voice whispered into my ear.
My own voice.
“You’re not the original.”
I turned around.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
Then the emergency lights turned on.
Everyone was gone.
Mark.
Daniel.
Thomas.
All disappeared.
Except me.
And the hospital bed in the center of Room 214.
On the bed was a patient file.
My name.
But this time…
The status was different.
PATIENT CONDITION: RECOVERED
MEMORY RESTORATION: COMPLETE
IDENTITY CONFIRMATION: FAILED
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
A note written by me.
The words were simple:
May you like
"If you are reading this, it means I lost."
End of Chapter 6
